One of my RT-AC86Us died and shipped to Asus...

[Val D.]

So, Asus is conspiring against its customers?

I don’t know. They need to fix the web page though.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I don’t know. They need to fix the web page though.

They seem to change their website every few months. Unlike more serious product sites, theirs seems to be more about marketing than technical product documentation. Their spec page doesn't even mention AiMesh.

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

Ten days later, Asus returned a shiny new router via FedEx ground. Round trip ground shipping to San Francisco is about 9 days of professional driving. Hat tip to the truckers!

The new router is in new and different packaging, Made in Vietnam (not China) in 2020... within the last 67 days... that's amazing!

It's time to pour an IPA and play!

OE

 

[Val D.]

... that's amazing!

What the warranty on the replacement? Because if you had total of 2 years warranty on the product you originally purchased, your replacement has no warranty left. Is this how they proceed with replacements?

 

[CaptainSTX]

Ten days later, Asus returned a shiny new router via FedEx ground. Round trip ground shipping to San Francisco is about 9 days of professional driving. Hat tip to the truckers!

The new router is in new and different packaging, Made in Vietnam (not China) in 2020... within the last 67 days... that's amazing!

It's time to pour an IPA and play!

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

A 2xRT-AC86U AiMesh 81351 is rocking again here. The new router arrived with firmware 32799. I don't see a h/w build version anywhere.

I may have discovered something new. After router setup, I visited grc.com Shields UP! to scan 'all service ports' because seeing STEALTH feels good. Port 0 turned up CLOSED instead of STEALTH. I've had this issue before and never resolved it although it passed on its own. So, this time I went to router Firewall\General, toggled 'Respond ICMP Echo (ping) Request from WAN' from No to Yes to No, and applied the non-change. Shields UP! now comes up fully STEALTH. Hmmm.

OE

 

[DarkKnight75]

A 2xRT-AC86U AiMesh 81351 is rocking again here. The new router arrived with firmware 32799. I don't see a h/w build version anywhere.

I may have discovered something new. After router setup, I visited grc.com Shields UP! to scan 'all service ports' because seeing STEALTH feels good. Port 0 turned up CLOSED instead of STEALTH. I've had this issue before and never resolved it although it passed on its own. So, this time I went to router Firewall\General, toggled 'Respond ICMP Echo (ping) Request from WAN' from No to Yes to No, and applied the non-change. Shields UP! now comes up fully STEALTH. Hmmm.

OE

Mine was also manuf 2019 with no hw revision...4 days uptime on merlin 384.12 and all good. How's latest asus firmware running on it?

 

[OzarkEdge]

Mine was also manuf 2019 with no hw revision...4 days uptime on merlin 384.12 and all good. How's latest asus firmware running on it?

81351 has been ok with fixed channels.

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

I may have discovered something new. After router setup, I visited grc.com Shields UP! to scan 'all service ports' because seeing STEALTH feels good. Port 0 turned up CLOSED instead of STEALTH. I've had this issue before and never resolved it although it passed on its own. So, this time I went to router Firewall\General, toggled 'Respond ICMP Echo (ping) Request from WAN' from No to Yes to No, and applied the non-change. Shields UP! now comes up fully STEALTH. Hmmm.

Nope... it's back.

OE

 

[cmkelley]

...22 days short of its 2-year warranty expiration. It stopped working, stopped responding, and only displayed a half-lit LAN port4 LED. I paid the shipping. We'll see what they ship back. They say that Covid-19 is hurting their supply line.

Edit: I did try my spare AC adapter... no joy. The RMA paper work allows for noting the pieces returned, so I noted and included the AC adapter and the antennas, all in the original packaging.

We all know Asus' recent track record, hardware and firmware... I'm tempted to piss and moan about it... but it happens, even to manufacturers, so let's see if they can improve their QC... there's room for improvement.

I gotta say... being able to immediately re-purpose my 86U remote node as my recovery router was very handy... my network was down for less than 20 minutes. Can you do that with those other shrink-wrapped consumer mesh systems?

OE

How convenient that this thread was so near the top ... my 86U did the same last night, half-lit port 4 LED. I came here hoping there was a magic combination of buttons to fix it. Geh. 2018 model.

 

[cmkelley]

Asus sent me the label at no cost and replacement ac86u is arriving next week ( total turnaround time 8 biz days..not bad).

Will see how the replacement works and if issue resurface will request for a new one.

How did you manage to get an RMA from them? I've been trying for two nights in a row now with no success. I can't sit on hold at work and I can't get the website to generate an RMA. I tried to initiate chat with them, when a "person" came on it said hold on I'm reviewing your issue and then went radio silent.

 

[RMerlin]

Last time I opened an RMA with Asus it was for my Zenpad. I did it over web chat.

 

[OzarkEdge]

How did you manage to get an RMA from them? I've been trying for two nights in a row now with no success. I can't sit on hold at work and I can't get the website to generate an RMA. I tried to initiate chat with them, when a "person" came on it said hold on I'm reviewing your issue and then went radio silent.

I called the number on the card that came with the router, 812-282-2787. I waited on hold for a few minutes.

The card also invites e-mail to networking_support@asus.com.

OE

 

[DarkKnight75]

How did you manage to get an RMA from them? I've been trying for two nights in a row now with no success. I can't sit on hold at work and I can't get the website to generate an RMA. I tried to initiate chat with them, when a "person" came on it said hold on I'm reviewing your issue and then went radio silent.

I just went to ASUS website. I had shipping label sent to me within 15 minutes of my RMA.
Router rock solid going on 9 days on merlin 384.12 (manuf 2019)

https://www.asus.com/us/support/
1-888-678-3688
Monday - Friday, 6AM - 9PM PST
Saturday - Sunday, 6AM - 5PM PST

 

[cmkelley]

I just went to ASUS website. I had shipping label sent to me within 15 minutes of my RMA.
Router rock solid going on 9 days on merlin 384.12 (manuf 2019)

https://www.asus.com/us/support/
1-888-678-3688
Monday - Friday, 6AM - 9PM PST
Saturday - Sunday, 6AM - 5PM PST

I cheated, I had my wife call for me since she doesn't work outside of the house.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I cheated, I had my wife call for me since she doesn't work outside of the house.

Plus she's probably much better at such things than you are!

OE

 

[cmkelley]

Plus she's probably much better at such things than you are!

OE

Actually, she is.

 

[retuor]

Thanks OE for sharing your ASUS router and RMA experience.

I have the same routers and like to share my experience.

1.
AiMesh setup:
main: RT-AC86U
node: RT-AC68R

One day all wireless devices stopped connecting on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands. Later on also found out the routers couldn't be configured in AiMesh anymore, even after resetting and starting from scratch. I suspect this all started from accepting firmware update. Was running stock firmwares on both routers.

2.
When starting from scratch, I found out RT-AC86U wasn't outputting correct wireless names as entered in admin. For example, 2.4GHz is named "ABC2". The router outputted "ACC2". Additionally wifi security by default is WPA2 but the router used WEP. Even if I made corrections/changes to the router, the router still outputted the wrong name and insisted on WEP.

I also found out the reason for AiMesh not working, meaning the main router couldn't find an AiMesh node, is the router (RT-AC86U) turned off WPS. When the router starts in AiMesh node mode so the main router can find it, the wireless names defaults to "ASUS<something>" and WPS enabled. My RT-AC86U had the "ASUS<something>" wireless names but WPS disabled. There was nothing I can figure out to enable WPS or why it was disabled to begin with.

3.
I went to ASUS support site to start an RMA but I kept getting a message that my serial number already has an RMA and to wait 24-48 hours. I've never created an RMA for my router so I was confused. After sitting on it for some weeks, I decided to find some way to contact ASUS directly. I found on Amazon reviews that ASUS publishes an email address: customerloyalty@asus.com
(I forgot ASUS also published another email address in the insert inside the packaging.)
I formed my email and finally got the ball rolling. I don't remember the time frame but the whole thing was done in about 2-3 weeks. I got a replacement RT-AC86U.

4.
The replacement worked great at first. But now there is a different problem.

But to start, my AiMesh setup:
main: another RT-AC86U
node: replacement RT-AC86U
The RT-AC68R is not used for the time being.

This setup did work at first but after some time I noticed some of my 2.4GHz wireless devices would disconnect. No matter how many times I re-configured and/or reset the devices, they would fail to re-connect. However if the 2.4GHz wireless devices are near the main router, they would be able to connect on the main router's 2.4GHz wireless. The 5GHz wireless devices however had no issues.

I've deduced that the issue is the node router. When I turn it off, leaving only the main router, the 2.4GHz wireless works again. This problem is also difficult to replicate in that it doesn't happen immediately. Resetting and re-creating the replacement RT-AC86U as an AiMesh node works fine. My 2.4GHz wireless devices that manage to connect to the replacement's 2.4GHz band would work. But after a few hours to maybe 24 hours or more, the problem would finally appear. However at one point everything was working for about two weeks before the problem appeared. So far I haven't been able to replicate that. The one change I did make when the replacement router lasted about two weeks was when I changed the wireless channels from Auto to a fixed channel for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Ever since then, the replacement router would have the problem within around 24 hours plus or minus some hours.

5.
I have tried all the available ASUS versions of the RT-AC86U firmwares on both the main and node routers without any success. I've had the replacement router for about 3 months now and it's been challenging to say the least to regularly turn off, reset and re-configure the routers. I started with x81351 firmware and just kept downgrading whenever the problem occurred. I just noticed x81352 came out so I am trying that one now.

6.
I don't have confidence in x81352 so I've contacted ASUS and am in the midst of initiating another RMA.

7.
I saw a youtube video about setting up a dual fan on the back of the router. I also saw Val D.'s message saying the same thing. I got myself that dual fan and used Merlin's firmware to monitor the temperature. I have both fans blowing into the router and they are very quiet. With the fans, the CPU temp is about 40+C, 2.4GHz about 40+C and 5GHz about 50+C. This is when I turned on the replacement RT-AC86U and reset and re-configure as a normal router without any wireless devices connected except for a wired computer to monitor the temperature. I let the fans run for about 5 minutes. I then removed the fans and noticed the temperature increase. After about 10 minutes, the CPU temp. rose about 10 degrees, 2.4GHz about 10 degrees also and 5GHz about 20 degrees.

...

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thanks OE for sharing your ASUS router and RMA experience.

I have the same routers and like to share my experience.

1.
AiMesh setup:
main: RT-AC86U
node: RT-AC68R

One day all wireless devices stopped connecting on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands. Later on also found out the routers couldn't be configured in AiMesh anymore, even after resetting and starting from scratch. I suspect this all started from accepting firmware update. Was running stock firmwares on both routers.

2.
When starting from scratch, I found out RT-AC86U wasn't outputting correct wireless names as entered in admin. For example, 2.4GHz is named "ABC2". The router outputted "ACC2". Additionally wifi security by default is WPA2 but the router used WEP. Even if I made corrections/changes to the router, the router still outputted the wrong name and insisted on WEP.

I also found out the reason for AiMesh not working, meaning the main router couldn't find an AiMesh node, is the router (RT-AC86U) turned off WPS. When the router starts in AiMesh node mode so the main router can find it, the wireless names defaults to "ASUS<something>" and WPS enabled. My RT-AC86U had the "ASUS<something>" wireless names but WPS disabled. There was nothing I can figure out to enable WPS or why it was disabled to begin with.

3.
I went to ASUS support site to start an RMA but I kept getting a message that my serial number already has an RMA and to wait 24-48 hours. I've never created an RMA for my router so I was confused. After sitting on it for some weeks, I decided to find some way to contact ASUS directly. I found on Amazon reviews that ASUS publishes an email address: customerloyalty@asus.com
(I forgot ASUS also published another email address in the insert inside the packaging.)
I formed my email and finally got the ball rolling. I don't remember the time frame but the whole thing was done in about 2-3 weeks. I got a replacement RT-AC86U.

4.
The replacement worked great at first. But now there is a different problem.

But to start, my AiMesh setup:
main: another RT-AC86U
node: replacement RT-AC86U
The RT-AC68R is not used for the time being.

This setup did work at first but after some time I noticed some of my 2.4GHz wireless devices would disconnect. No matter how many times I re-configured and/or reset the devices, they would fail to re-connect. However if the 2.4GHz wireless devices are near the main router, they would be able to connect on the main router's 2.4GHz wireless. The 5GHz wireless devices however had no issues.

I've deduced that the issue is the node router. When I turn it off, leaving only the main router, the 2.4GHz wireless works again. This problem is also difficult to replicate in that it doesn't happen immediately. Resetting and re-creating the replacement RT-AC86U as an AiMesh node works fine. My 2.4GHz wireless devices that manage to connect to the replacement's 2.4GHz band would work. But after a few hours to maybe 24 hours or more, the problem would finally appear. However at one point everything was working for about two weeks before the problem appeared. So far I haven't been able to replicate that. The one change I did make when the replacement router lasted about two weeks was when I changed the wireless channels from Auto to a fixed channel for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Ever since then, the replacement router would have the problem within around 24 hours plus or minus some hours.

5.
I have tried all the available ASUS versions of the RT-AC86U firmwares on both the main and node routers without any success. I've had the replacement router for about 3 months now and it's been challenging to say the least to regularly turn off, reset and re-configure the routers. I started with x81351 firmware and just kept downgrading whenever the problem occurred. I just noticed x81352 came out so I am trying that one now.

6.
I don't have confidence in x81352 so I've contacted ASUS and am in the midst of initiating another RMA.

7.
I saw a youtube video about setting up a dual fan on the back of the router. I also saw Val D.'s message saying the same thing. I got myself that dual fan and used Merlin's firmware to monitor the temperature. I have both fans blowing into the router and they are very quiet. With the fans, the CPU temp is about 40+C, 2.4GHz about 40+C and 5GHz about 50+C. This is when I turned on the replacement RT-AC86U and reset and re-configure as a normal router without any wireless devices connected except for a wired computer to monitor the temperature. I let the fans run for about 5 minutes. I then removed the fans and noticed the temperature increase. After about 10 minutes, the CPU temp. rose about 10 degrees, 2.4GHz about 10 degrees also and 5GHz about 20 degrees.

...

Setup the router. If the router doesn't work, get a different one. Setup the node. If the node doesn't work, get a different one or get a different system.

When my router died, I replaced it with the node and shipped it to Asus within 3 hours. They shipped a new router back within 10 days (excellent considering it spent 9 days on the road). I didn't muck around with other firmware or fans. If I thought my router needed fans, I'd buy a different router.

OE

 

[retuor]

Setup the router. If the router doesn't work, get a different one. Setup the node. If the node doesn't work, get a different one or get a different system.

When my router died, I replaced it with the node and shipped it to Asus within 3 hours. They shipped a new router back within 10 days (excellent considering it spent 9 days on the road). I didn't muck around with other firmware or fans. If I thought my router needed fans, I'd buy a different router.

OE

Thanks OE!